Design, development and testing of dielectric tapered rod feed for parabolic reflector antenna as an alternate to feed horns

Abstract

Dielectric rod antenna (DRA) has been used as an alternate feed system for the reflector antennas. Simulated and measured radiation characteristics for dielectric rod antenna have been discussed and compared. It is a cylindrical Teflon rod tapered from the radiating end and fed by a circular metallic waveguide. Such antennas are being used for their manufacturing simplicity, light weight, broadband characteristics and relatively higher gain and directivity as compared to horn antennas. Antenna discussed here was actually designed and measured for Ku band (12-14GHz) but simulated results reveal that it can exhibit broadband characteristics and can cover the range beyond 10-30GHz at either end.